damned_institute | Day 55: Courtyard [4th Shift]

Talking with friends usually put Anise in a better mood, but the subjects that she, Guy, and Tear covered at lunch were so heavy that Anise couldn't help but feel weighed down afterward. It was hard to think and talk about the terrible things that came about from her lies. She wasn't going to cry, not now, but she felt like she needed a little space.

Fortunately, children were going out to the Courtyard today, and that sounded like a good, wide area where she could get a little alone time. The fresh air could help her mood, too.

When Anise reached the door, however, a blast of cold air rushed in at her, and all she could see outside was a blinding veil of whiteness. For a moment, she simply stared at the sight. She never saw much for snow at Landel's, but here it had already covered everything in just one day!

"You might need this," a soldier said, presenting a black jacket to her. The color and style really didn't suit Anise, but it looked expensive. She slipped it on, and while it wasn't as feminine as she liked her clothes to be, the lining actually had a nice feel to it. On the left breast, she noticed a name embroidered over it. It wasn't her name, but it was still kind of impressive that they personalized these things.

Outside, snow had settled onto every surface, like a big fluffy blanket over the ground. Anise walked along the path for a bit, creating a single set of footprints in the otherwise smooth surface. Once she was a fair distance from the doors, she diverged from the path (which was barely visible to begin with) and walked to the edge of the pond, watching the falling snowflakes disappear into the water.

It was a pretty sight, but it wasn't enough to completely take her mind off of Ion. Before long, Anise found herself wondering if it was snowing where Ion was, too. Maybe he was really far away, though...

[waiting for her boyfriends ♥]

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A parasite? Admittedly, he probably deserved that, but it was still an interesting change of pace from spending a whole night with a member of his own kind. He'd almost forgotten Venom's instinctual dislike of vampires. Of course, once Edward had decided the nurse was right and that Venom was gone for good, he had already begun to move onto more pressing matters considering Landel's personal murder would have to wait.

Now he was back on the original plan of murdering Landel with Venom. That was much preferable in his mind. Besides, they had already shown how exemplary their hunting skills were together.

"I think you're going to find it interesting," he promised with a small smile before lifting himself minimally off the wave of snow behind him to grab Venom's wrist and jerk him forward into the fluff.

"Gah!"

A surprised sound left Venom's throat as he was yanked down with a strength he'd temporarily forgotten was there. No matter how much he tried to grind the heels of his boots into the snow underneath him, he soon found himself face-first in a freezing pile of snow with a muted thump.

Admittedly, the snow did cushion his fall. On the other hand, his carefully constructed hat-shield had tumbled off in the act of gravity and his face was now being assaulted by particles of soft ice, his hair having spread out around his head and offering him no protection.

What is this...?

The assassin rose his head slowly, eyes peering at the vampire who had somehow decided this would be entertaining. He stared at him for a long while, flashes of blue occasionally appearing behind the mess of white. Did he think this would be funny? That Venom would be laughing at any of this? He wouldn't. He had been trying to have a civil conversation and Edward forcefully pulled the leader of the Assassin's Guild off his feet and--

There was no thought to come as a warning--the last one only cut itself off as Venom freed one of his hands from the cold and pelted a carefully constructed ball of snow at the vampire's face.

Even if the daylight and the institution in general hadn't sucked the speed and power out of his body, Edward was pretty sure he still would not have dodged that attack. Half because he wasn't expecting it and half because he was thoroughly convinced that there was an interesting, humorous person buried somewhere in Venom.

Very, very deep.

Beyond the bottomless pit depth.

But Edward had seen the hints there and that was all he had to take his advantage from. He wiped the snow from his face, rubbing it from his eyelashes as he sat up, the snow forming a comfortable shield around him.

He laughed, feeling almost carefree for a moment. He was reminded of those times he had posed for the humans of Forks, tossing snow around with his brothers and his sisters, earning the awe of a few hundred or so nearly inconsequential teenagers who would only look, but never touch. Venom was a lot more astute than... well, Edward had certainly given him a lot of credit there, but the assassin still surprised him.

"That was rather impressive," he praised him, quieting his laughs. "I've never heard someone catch on to distracting me so quickly."

He could have taken the moment to gloat over his (admittedly silly) own trickery, but he didn't; the negative thoughts were not entirely meant as a distraction, which most likely came as no surprise. Having gone through what he had this past year, Venom never needed a reason to be upset.

He also did not like being in this snow, though not entirely due to the cold. Forced on him as it was, he wanted his hat back. He hated feeling exposed, even in the company of someone who'd shown an ability to rifle through his every thought. Freeing one of his hands from the cold, he stretched his arm forward to retrieve it.

Nnngh...

It was too far. His arm fell back into the snow, its rapid descent accompanied with a short huff of frustration. As easy as it could be to just get up... Whatever. It could stay there for now, then.

He had begun to comb his bangs back into his eyes as he turned to speak with Edward, any previous amusement that may have been lingering in the corners of his mind having been pushed far away. "I'm going to assume there is something more you wished to discuss."

Though Venom seemed to be trying his damnedest to move past that short little moment, Edward was going to hang on to it. Venom was an interesting man, and the smaller moments obviously meant more when it came to sorting through exactly what sort of man he was. Scenes of amusement or anything outside of hardened pessimism did not shine through but once or twice a week - if they did at all, it seemed - so he would just have to appreciate them as they came.

Like the sunglasses. It just warmed the cold, dead cockles of his heart.

He had silenced his laughs, but there was still a light smile on his face. "Yes, of course there is. I'm just taking a brief moment to enjoy the weather with you." Like Venom, he didn't lift himself from the snow. As long as the soldiers were not going to huff about it, Edward didn't have any problem sitting there. Besides, it's not as if the snow touching him was melting and soaking into his clothes.

"I went hunting last night. Part of the reason for the arm, as I think you can imagine. It was that forest we went to, the one from that... night." He didn't really want to say portals because it still sounded ridiculous. Though, here came the part he didn't really want to admit. "I used your ring, which I apologize for now. I thought you were gone, and I was desperate." Desperate to help Stefan not kill someone, but that was neither here nor there. Or rather, he didn't want to bring it up. Stefan's secret was not his to share, as it wasn't Bella's to share his own with Claire. There was some sort of unwritten rule to vampirism.

"After I was done hunting, someone found me. He wasn't another patient. His name was Mark. He said he was a member of Second World, that rebel group. I couldn't read his mind, so I was wary, but he told me some interesting things about Landel... and Jill. He seemed to know much more than anyone really should."

Venom was going to brush off the notion that Edward had caught the morose assassin actively enjoying anything and instead focused on something else: he had noticed that the snow around the vampire indeed refused to melt and, frankly, it was disturbing. He'd seen too much to not immediately be reminded of corpses littered in red-tinted snow. Blood aside though, wasn't this precisely what that was?

Hmph. He didn't have time to think about that right now.

The assassin kept quiet and listened as Edward went on, only nodding his head when it was called for. The mention of the ring he'd been given briefly caused a short twitch of his lips, but he still said nothing. It didn't matter much, anyway. That could be easily fixed, much more so than the vampire's hunger. Only when he was sure the other man was done speaking did he follow suit.

"Mark," he repeated slowly, mind placing the name to a stored-away memory. The man from the radio transmissions? ...Yes, he knew who Edward was referring to. As terrible as that night had become (and it was, in fact, terrible no matter what they had learned. Thankfully, all the wounds their group had sustained appeared to be healing.), he knew better than to forget any information given.

Venom pulled his arms onto his chest, lacing his fingers there as he watched his partner. "Go on."

Day 55: Courtyard [4th Shift]

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DON'T JUDGE ME ;A;

WHAT ARE POSTS? BABY DON'T JUDGE ME. DON'T JUDGE ME. NO MO